Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1887-06-09
A PATENT PIckEREL TRAP.

4
r f WINS Death on the Fish, but Not o
Much Use, as II Caught Nothing bu,
Their Heads.
A score of yawning pickerel heads,
siried and vanished, decorate the back
'oar OF the American house. writes q
Bloomfield, N. j., correspondent of THE
New York Sun. They are evidently put
: there for the single purpose of making
people ask questions, as they are neith-
er pretty nor ornamental Barkeepcr
Eddy will not explain the presence of
the heads, and his manner when ar
preached on the subject indicates that
the gaping jaws and long faces Of tho
fish are suggestive of something either
unpleasant or disappointing. The
landlord. hover, is never too busy
to tell about these trophies, and gencr.
ally when he begins TO tell the story
The barkeepcr goes into the billiard
room and makes a noise with the stove
CRATE, or basics himself cleaning cues
and busting the tables.
"Were all those pickcrel caught at
once? asked guest one day last week
in the absence of the barkeeper.
"All at once" answered the land.
lord.
"Psther nice mess That bigge st
head looks rs though it would about fit
Il srx-pound fish. Must have been
soule fun pulling him in," remarked
the guest.
"Well, hardly" said the landlord,
holding up the head and looking
through it at the qucstioner. ut was
very funny. but the fellow that caught
1t didn't have any fun. We had all tho
fun after he got home. guess you
haven't heard about Eddy's patent
/ ack-action automatic pickorel tip-ups,
have you?"
The guest assured the landland that
he had not, and showed SO much inter-
est in the matter that the latter leaned
With his elbow On the bar and began:
''Wcll. you see, Eddy is always trying
to make folks believe he is great fish
erman, and this winter he laid himself
out for days fishing through the ice
He talked about it for months and re.
fused to take anybody into tho snap
with him, although lots of the boys
wanted to 60. He spent all his leisure
time for week drawing plans of some-
thing, and then for month more he
was either running over to the black
smiths or puttering around in the car
;iage house every time he got mo-
mcnt to spare. One day went into the
blacksmith shop and saw a.thingumbob
with coiled steel wire spring to it,
and the blacksmith told me it was
patent pickerel trap, and that he was
going to make two dozen like it. He
didn't tell me who ordered him to, but
didn't need telling. l knew they
were for Eddy.
"WclI, one day last month Eddy said
he wanted to go up to Hopatcong next
day. and | said all r,ght. Next morn
ing he started with two champagne
baskets and we guyed him about them
and told him they wouldn't hold all
the fish he was gong to catch. He
laughed and said: Hold on till
come back and will show you. He
came back about 10 o clock that night
and chucked twenty pickcrel heads on
the table there. l asked him where
the rest of the fish where, and h G told
me that he got hungry and ate them,
an that's all he would say about the
matter. l don't suppose | would have
ever found out about it, but for Ike
| Mcpherson, of Newark. He was work.
ing ut the big Hotel Bresln. and when
Eddy got up there at the lake Ike went
out to help him cut holes in the ice and
set his new-fangled tip.ups. 1t was a
mighty cold day. and just rs soon
rs they got the things fixed they shot
for the hotel and staid there for
couple of hours. Now, Ike described
those tip ups to me. and didn't need
anyth ne else but his dcscr. ption to en-
plain how Eddy got those heads. He
said that when the trays were stuck
down into the ice q long arm of steel
wire stood stra ght up in the air. At
the lower end the wire was coilcd
into spring, like one of those traps
used for throwing glass balls and clay
birds at shooting match. Apiece of
fsh-lne was fasten ed to the end of the
wire, and then it was was sprung down
under a trigger close to the hole in the
ice. Then alive sinner was put on
he hook at the end of the line and
dropped through the hole. When
a pickcrei swallowed the bait
and tried to run away with it
he pulled the trigger. and the spring
was supposed to yank him cut of the
water. We'll, Eddy and Ike set two
dozen of these Internal machines out
on the ice and went away, as / said.
At the end of two or three hours Eddy
went out on the ice alone, and few
minutes later Ike dropped his work and
followed him. When he got out where
the holes were cut he found Eddy
standing with his mouth wide open.
looking at his traps. Eighteen of them
were sprung, and each one had pick
srers head dangling from it. While he
was standing looking at them two more
went off and slung pichere Is heads out
On the ice. l saw the trouble about the
hing at once. The springs were too
sudden and too stron q in their action,
and broke off the heads of the fish be,
free the bodies had a chance to get I'M
der weigh and follow the m out. Eddy
was so broken-hearted and disguised
that he pulled up the traps and sunk
them in the lake after saving the heads,
and now he doesn't like to hear any
thing about pickerel fishing. l made
him give me the heads and fixed them
up and keep them here to humble him
when he gets to feeling too good. He
Is pretty good sort of y fellow. but in
venting isn't his strong point. II he